PIX-ALIAS(1)

📦
version 7.44.0 · 2 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 pix-alias(1) — the BRL-CAD one

okay so first things first, bestie: this is the pix-alias page from the BRL-CAD manual set. yes, that BRL-CAD. buckle up 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

pix-alias — the little tool that converts a BRL-CAD pix image into an Alias(tm) pix format image. it's giving translator-girlie, it's giving bilingual icon 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

pix-alias [-s squaresize] [-w file_width] [-n file_height] < BRLpixfile > ALIASpixfile

like, you feed it a pix file on stdin, it hands you back an Alias pix file on stdout. in and out. no cap 🦋

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so here's the vibe: pix-alias reads a BRL-CAD pix(5) image on standard input — and by "image" we mean literally just a stream of RGB pixel triples, no metadata, no drama — and it writes an Alias(tm) PIX image out on standard output. slay.

the Alias format is run-length encoded, and it stores pixels as count, B, G, R runs. note the order! blue, green, red. not red-green-blue. don't come for me, that's just how Alias do 💀 and before all those runs there's a short header describing the image dimensions, offsets, and bit depth (24 bits per pixel, for the record).

here's the catch though, and it's kind of a big one: pix(5) files literally carry no dimensions. like, zero. none. so you must tell pix-alias how big your input is on the command line, or it just assumes. and what does it assume? 512 by 512 pixels. that's the default, bestie 🙈

the output scanlines get written bottom-to-top, because that's what Alias readers expect. that's not a bug, that's a whole personality trait.

also bestie — pix-alias refuses to run when its standard input is a terminal. so don't just type pix-alias and stare at it. it will not be moved 😭

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

  • -s squaresize — sets both the width and the height of the input image to squaresize pixels. one number, two dimensions, square vibes only ⭐
  • -w file_width — sets the width of the input image to file_width pixels. width girlie only 🎀
  • -n file_height — sets the height of the input image to file_height scanlines. height girlie only 🦋
  • -h, -? — prints a usage message and exits. the "help me help you" flag, iconic, no notes 👑

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

Example 1. Convert a rendered frame to Alias format

rt -s 1024 -o frame.pix model.g component
pix-alias -s 1024 < frame.pix > frame.alias

okay so what's happening here: you render a 1024x1024 image with rt(1), and then you convert that pix(5) file into an Alias PIX file so it plays nice with tools that expect the Alias format. and the -s flag? that's you telling pix-alias "bestie the input is square, please allocate the correct buffer." because it cannot figure that out on its own. periodt 💅

Example 2. Convert a non-square image

pix-alias -w 1280 -n 720 < wide.pix > wide.alias

here we're converting a 1280x720 (that's 720p, yes, the classic) pix(5) file, and instead of pretending it's square we specify width and height independently with -w and -n. 720p girlies rise 🌸

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

brlcad(1), rt(1), pix-png(1), pix-bw(1), pix(5)

(the whole pix-adjacent friend group, honestly. iykyk ✨)

💜 AUTHOR 💜

BRL-CAD Team — collectively iconic, collectively responsible for this whole thing 👑

This software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

like yes, the literal U.S. Government. main character energy on a federal level 💀🇺🇸

🍓 BUG REPORTS 🍓

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org

go off, tell them what broke. they want to know fr fr 🙈

okay that's the whole page, you're all caught up my love 💖 this was pix-alias(1) from BRL-CAD — go convert something and make it everyone's problem 🌟

📦 where this page comes from